TRACY SARROFF and NIKE SAVVAS are included in the exhibition 'Curiouser & Curiouser' at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
Curated by Julian Woods, the exhibition takes inspiration from the opening passages of Lewis Carroll's book 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', exploring ideas of time, perception, the inexplicable and tactility. 'Curiouser & Curiouser' opens on 14 December.
Tracy Sarroff, Cyber Plant – Blue, 2012, acrylic, fluorescent light, 14 x 14 x 127cm.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is presenting with the Power Institute, the Australian premiere screening of the feature-length Imants Tillers documentary Thrown into the World, directed by Antra Cilinska of Juris Podnieks Studio, and the launch of the Imants Tillers’ new monograph, Journey to Nowhere.
The screening will be followed by a short Q&A with Professor Mark Ledbury and Imants Tillers.
5.45 – 8.30pm | 21 November 2018
Museum of Contemporary Art
*Please note that this event is sold out. Contact the MCA to go on the Waiting List.
Imants Tillers, Studio, Image Courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art.
Portrait of Maria Fernanda Cardoso by Janie Barrett, Courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald.
A wonderful feature article on MARIA FERNANDA CARDOSO in The Sydney Morning Herald today.
Quoted in the article, "I'm free. Being an artist for me is about freedom. I do anything I want. Any thought I have I can pursue. Nobody tells me what to do, only myself and my curiosity," she says.
ARC ONE is delighted to present Chivalry, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, Guan Wei.
An opening reception will be held on Wednesday 14 November, 6-8pm, with opening remarks by Claire Roberts.
Guan Wei is a storyteller. Throughout his more than 30-year art practice, his distinctive style
has combined Australian and Chinese influences to weave profound narratives of loss, migration, identity, colonisation, and place. Working across painting, sculpture and installation, he merges eastern and western philosophies, art histories, eras and empires, signs and symbols, to create imaginary cross-cultural realms that explore contemporary issues and hopes for a better world.
Guan Wei’s latest exhibition at ARC ONE Gallery presents three bodies of work: Chivalry, a suite of paintings laden with philosophical meaning; Mascot, playful bronze sculptures depicting humorously anthropomorphised mythical creatures; and the monumental Treasure Hunt, a major new tapestry woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop.
In Chivalry, Guan Wei examines ideas of honour and virtue through a series of theatrical tableaux inspired by the Middle Ages. “I have been seeking new directions in my painting for many years”, says the artist, “exploring new possibilities and making breakthroughs from my existing style toward new territory. Quite unexpectedly, reading and learning about the knights of the Middle Ages was a turning point in me. I was mesmerised by their stories.” Utilising the flowing rhythm of Eastern ink painting, calligraphy, and sketching, Guan Wei brings the realm of medieval fantasy to life. Noble jousts, sword-fights, romantic adventures, and heroic gestures, play out across his canvases evoking ideals and values that were once used to navigate lives. In the face of increasing alienation, digitalisation, virtual reality, and global change, Chivalry invites us to reflect on our humanity.
Woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton from the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Treasure Hunt is inspired by a large painted mural from Guan Wei’s exhibition Other Histories at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney in 2006. Drawing on Chinese and European mythologies, the work considers ‘other’ histories and the intersection of Indigenous and colonial cultural narratives. Through the depiction of the oceans, islands and desert interiors, Guan Wei references navigation, exploration, migration and the influence of, and response to, globalisation.
Guan Wei was born 1957, Beijing, China, and lives and works in Beijing and Sydney. He has won many awards, including the 2015 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery; Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2002; and was selected for the prestigious 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award, National Gallery of Victoria. Solo exhibitions include: Cosmotheoria, White Box Art Center 798 Art District Beijing, 2017; Guan. Perspective, Scene Sense Art Gallery, Beijing, 2017; Salvation, ARC ONE Gallery 2016; Archaeology, ARC ONE Gallery, 2014; Spellbound, He Xiang Ning Art Museum, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China, 2011; The Enchantment, ARC ONE Gallery, 2012; Other histories: Guan Wei’s fable for a contemporary world, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2006– 07; Looking, Greene St Studio, New York, 2003; Zen Garden, Sherman Contemporary, Sydney, 2000; and Nesting, or the Art of Idleness 1989–1999, MCA, Sydney, 1999.
Major group exhibitions include: The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition, AGNSW, Sydney, 2017; Closing the Distance, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Bundoora, Victoria, 2017; Borders, Barriers, Walls, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2016; Collaborative Witness: Artists responding to the plight of the refugee, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2011; Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai Museum, China, 2010; 10th Havana Biennial, Cuba, 2009; The China Project, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2009; Handle with Care, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Adelaide, 2008; Face Up: Contemporary Art from Australia, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin, 2003–04; Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 2002; Osaka Triennial, Japan, 2001; Man and Space, Kwangju Biennale, South Korea, 2000; Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1999.
In 2019 the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, will present a major installation of Guan Wei’s work, which will include his 18-metre-long multi-panelled painting, Feng Shui, and works from the MCA collection.
Guan Wei, Chivalry No. 11, 2018, acrylic on linen, 180 x 140cm.
Guan Wei, Chivalry No. 1, 2018, acrylic on linen, 130 x 80cm.
Guan Wei, Chivalry No. 5, 2018, acrylic on linen, 130 x 180cm.
Honey Long & Prue Stent, Rock Form III, archival pigment print, edition of 5, 72 x 108cm.
HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT are featured in issue 45 of Artist Profile, out today.
The collaborative artists have written about their process: "As two friends who first started working together when we were sixteen years old, our artistic process sprung from a place of curiosity, impulse and desire. This sense of playfulness has become the foundational element with which we continue to work. Although precognitive at the time, we seemed to recognise a mutual desire to explore our female bodies, sexuality and surrounding natural environment as a way of feeling connected to the space we were occupying."
PETER DAVERINGTON was interviewed on 2 November by ABC Sydney’s Christine Anu for her Evenings radio program. Peter had an in-depth conversation with Christine about The Raft of the CLAN, the work’s commission and unveiling at Parliament House, his practice, the meaning of the different elements within the work, and his beginnings as a graffiti artist.
You can listen to the interview here:
Peter Daverington, Raft of the Clan, oil and enamel on canvas, 260 x 397cm.
An interview with PETER DAVERINGTON's on his epic painting commission 'Raft of the Clan' has been featured on Daily Review. The work was recently unveiled by former Prime Minister Julia Gilliard at Parliament House, Canberra and commissioned by Care Leavers Australasia Network.
In the interview, Peter describes the creative process behind his work: "It was a very hard brief to be given. How do you represent institutional child sexual abuse? It’s really an impossible task. It took me a long time to reflect upon before I came up with a suitable approach. I focused on the idea of survival and chose the metaphor of a raft at sea to represent that. I wanted to make a painting that was victorious over the predators, an image of strength, pride, activism and defiance. A big part of my work is to look through art history and engage with the lineage of traditional masters in the craft of painting. So I went in search of raft paintings. I settled on Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa, which portrayed French sailors abandoned by the government as they cling to life on a makeshift raft at sea. I saw a strong connection there. Our countries children were abandoned by the very government that was entrusted with their care, left to fend for themselves against predators who hide beneath the cover of religion and state."
Works from MARIA FERNANDA CARDOSO's series 'It's Not Size That Matters, It Is Shape' have been included in the exhibition 'Digital Animalities: Rendering' at CONTACT Gallery in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition explores human animal interactions, with a focus on the evolving space of animality in contemporary digital culture.
The exhibition is now open and continues until 15 December.
Maria Fernanda Cardoso, Intromitent organ of the Thelbunus mirabilis (Tasmanian harvestman) Opiliones from the series It’s not size that matters, it is shape, 2008-09, resin, glass, metal, 28 x 6 x 6cm.
PHAPTAWAN SUWANNAKUDT's work is included in the Bangkok Art Biennale. Her installation 'Knowledge in Your Hands, Eyes and Minds' consists of a soundscape, herbal aroma and a hanging mirror, as well as murals and paper cutouts of Thai folklore characters.
The Bangkok Art Biennale continues until 3 February, 2019.
Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Knowledge in Your Hands, Eyes and Minds, Installation View, Bangkok Biennale, 2018.
Jacky Redgate, Light Throw (Mirror) #4, 2009-10, C-Type phoograph (hand-printed from original negative), facemounted to UV perspex.
JACKY REDGATE and ANNE ZAHALKA are included in the exhibition Robyn Stacey: as still as life. Drawn from MGA's collection, Jacky Redgate and Anne Zahalka's works are part of an exploration of still life photographs, which place the genre and Robyn Stacey's work into context.
The exhibition opens 24 November and continues until 3 March 2019.
